After reading and reflecting on Cisneros story and Hughes poem, one comes to the acknowledgment that both stories display the issue of emotional pressure and exercised adult derogatory authority .Even though both children have different rearing and upbringing the situation seems to be the same for both as they navigate life in obedience and reverence for adult people in their lives. Consequently, we see this becoming part of the norm in our society where many children are left without choices and are mandated to obey and simply follow instructions.
Taking a closer look to the children presented in both stories as main characters, both clearly undergone severe pressure from significant people in their lives, in this case, a teacher and an aunt who these children look up to something to them and look up to. The effect of pressure at such early ages confuses and marks children’s mental health and emotional wellbeing.
The issue correlating this pressure is that specific adults in this case, it affects other children as well, the power adult have over the individual being pressured. The reason why the oppressed allows the oppressor to enforce things on him/her is not yet clear. However, age gender, culture, social economic status, family ties, or even weak social emotional inner foundation, could be possible variables in this large loophole.
Moving to the understanding of authoritative pressure in children, this is not a hidden issue; it has been haunting children for a long time. A person affected by this type of pressure may or may not want to belong to these groups. Why do we need to know this? Clearly, this is an issue that could happen to any of us under any circumstances and build a wall of insecurity which may inhibit a healthy adulthood.
In my opinion, I believe that it is important to know how this type of hostility can occur and when it could offset. Although this type of pressure is normal, it is important to identify when peers or other people are positive and supportive to us or simply toxic.
In the previously assigned read stories, we had a teacher who felt that had the authority and the power to humiliate her student “Because the way you grow old is kind of like an onion or like the rings inside a tree trunk or like my little wooden dolls that fit one inside the other, each year inside the next one” (Cisneros 247).Behavior and experiences shape us as well as the environment. Our experiences and encounters with people in life, follow us throughout our journey. These encounters could help us grow or damage us and does not allow us to move on as the negative experiences ligers on us.
We also have an aunt who wanted to change a child’s religious perspectives “I believed her. I had heard a great many old people say the same thing and it seemed to me they ought to know” (Hughes 203). The pressure people apply on others to a point that because of who they are and what they mean in life, actions and behaviors are believable even if they’re not.
Negative peers in this case like previously mentioned, can encourage each other to skip classes, steal, cheat, use drugs or alcohol, or become involve in other risky behaviors.
After reviewing all of the possible variables, it is understood that this type of pressure could originate from anyone who would have the power to impact our life a parent, a teacher, a friend, and aunt. It is important that we encourage our children to stay away from peers who pressure who pressure them or make them feel that they are doing something that in reality they do not want to engage in. If it does not feel right, then it is most likely not appropriate to do. We also need to instill in our children that no matter how much someone means to us, if they want to change in order to please them, then it is not right either.
I believe that any type of pressure occurs within the circle of people who surround us. It is just a matter of learning how to say “no,” and practice how to avoid or get out of situations which make our children feel unsafe or uncomfortable.
It is important that children understand that one thing is being defiant and another thing is expressing their emotions and using their words. Until we do not allow and encourage our children to speak up and verbalize their emotions. We as parents can also help our children by being more out of the box thinkers and recognizing when their child is having a problem or is feeling pressure. It is important for parents to connect with their children and teach them to be assertive to resist getting intertwined in risky or inappropriate behavior just to satisfy others. Get to know who are our children’s friends and who are the most predominant and the effect they cause on our children. It is crucial to help your child develop self-confidence, develop strategies to avoid pressure and know that it is ok to say no.
In conclusion, extreme pressure from people who surround young individuals can cause changes to their innate personality, who they are and their emotional abilities. Keeping a close eye and an open communication with our children today is crucially important. Helping them build self-confidence and feeling sure about themselves will give them a strong chance in overcoming the many overwhelming forces created by peer pressure.
Works Cited
Cisneros, Sandra. “Eleven” pp. 1-10, bb.wpunj.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-1420036-dt-content-rid- 5133497_1/courses/201640-ENG1500-62/cisneros%20eleven.pdf. Accessed 21 September 2016.
Hughes, Langston. “Salvation” pp. 203-205, bb.wpunj.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-1420037-dt-content-rid-5133500_1/courses/201640-ENG1500-62/Hughes–Salvation.pdf. Accessed 21, September 2016.
Mariela Perez
Professor Krasner
ENG 1500
15 October 2016
The Fear of Changes
This paper aims to clarify and support concept of emotional the disturbances and insecurities Eveline lived as she saw her life transfigure through her eyes and not do anything about it. She faced the fear of becoming stagnated with no future nor growth. Eveline lives a cornered life as she encounters the dilemma of living with her abusive father or following her heart and leaving secretly with Frank; however, Eveline emotionally struggles as she realizes that she is not capable of stepping out of her comfort zone and moving on to the unknown world and its expectations.
Eveline brings many of us to the realization that many people do not live their life to a full potential due to the fear of the unknown and the “what if’s” of life.
Looking at Eveline, she struggles to escape from the emotional oppression she lives in. For one, she has been ruled most of her life by her father who has made her feel guilty, unaccepted and miniscule most of her life. These pounding feelings have made Eveline want to escape this bitter life she has lived s she navigates life of guilt, promises and insecurities.
Eveline lacks independence causing her not to be able to move one in life. She often would want to make bold moves as she would attempt to take a step forward with Frank, she would generate another step backward. Eveline battles with guilt and doubts as she may have made the decision to remain in factor in Ireland.
Despite of it all, Eveline had made her mother a promise the she would be the bond to maintain her home together for if she could. Eveline also felt an enormous guilt regarding her father. He had become old and he would probably miss her. This feeling is clearly vivid in Evelin as she struggles to survive her feeling and emotions.
These variables and ocean of insecurities, led us to think to comprehend the tumultuous emotional combat Eveline lived. Eveline’s story illustrates the drawbacks of holding onto the past when facing the future. Her personal traits and characteristics illustrate the conflicts women in the early twentieth-century felt. The pressure between living the promise she made to her mother, the domestic life and the path to love was overwhelming. Just for her to think that she would leave all she knew along with what was expected from her, filled her soul with feat and insecurity. Eveline has moments in her journey where she feels happy and eager to leave the life she had lived before, yet she succumbs to promises she already made and that she will fail to fulfill to her dead mother.
Her fear and desperation forces her to revert to the past as she holds closely to her the letters she had previously written to her dad and her brother. In these letters, she depicts her inability to let go of her family ties and the relationships she deeply has imbedded in her heart. As obscure as it may sound she was already use to her father’s cruelty and her brother’s absence.
Sadly, her fear and insecurities force her to cling to which ever positive memories she had of her family for her to move on. Unfortunately, Eveline sees Frank as a rescuer, who will save her from her saving her from her domestic life, but is not able to move on as she is not able to decide. Page 33.
Eveline also lives the fear or making the same mistake her mother did. She doesn’t want to make the same mistakes her mother did if she would leave with Frank and begin a new life. Eveline clearly understand that she lives an empty life and would want more out of it, but the fear holds her back continuously. Now a-days we have emotional issues and we can seek psychological support as we seek for therapy and so on. Eveline did not have the same opportunity and turn to the habit of prayer.
Works Cited
Ingersoll, Earl G. “The Stigma of Femininity in James Joyce’s “Eveline” and “The Boarding House”” (1993): 1-10. Web. 15 Oct. 2016.
James Joyce. “Eveline.” Eveline (1914): 1-6. Web. 4 Oct. 2016.
Mariela Perez
Professor Krasner
ENG 1500
14 November 2016
The Sacrifices of Reaching the American Dream
May immigrants sacrifice who they are, what have and their cultural beliefs and identity when immigrating to a new country. These experiences and struggles are clearly echoed in Cristina Henriquez’ novel, The Book of Unknown Americans. These immigrants leave behind their roots and their cultural awareness behind in order to reach a land that promises freedom and financial growth. I just wonder if the sacrifice is worth the struggles and emotional losses immigrants encounter during this journey. The story of Maribel Rivera keens closely to me because it resembles my journey as well as the journey of others who bring or send their families to the United States.
In the case of Cristina Henriquez’s novel, Maribel’s parents brought her to America in hopes of improving her health after she suffered a traumatic brain injury and she was no longer able to perform the basic things she would do when she was in good health. Luckily, her parents wanted to support their daughter and provide her a better environment by transitioning her to the United States although this idea was a dreading shadow among them. In the book, on page 79, Maribel’s parents’ dread the idea of coming to the USA because back home their quality of life was not bad, however, they knew that if Maribel’s heath did not improve, this was their option.
Many parents would want to improve the quality of their children and families; however, the environmental transition, the cultural change and lack of language dominance are great barrier’s immigrants’ face when coming to America.
Looking at my family, and how they migrated to this country, many lived low- profile lives and acquired low-income level jobs despite their academic and professional development in their county. I have a family member who became a doctor in the Dominican Republic and due to lack of work and economical instability there, came to the United States to achieve a better life. However, she has not been able to secure a decent position due to her lack of language ability. She has worked as a primary care giver for children and folding sheets in an elderly institution. She doesn’t have the ability to understand what her children’s teachers are saying and most of the time requires a translator if available. The waiting list for a free ESL program in her town is about a year and a half. This, consequently, limits her ability—and that of many other immigrants in the United States–to excel and propel economically since many if not all do not have the ability to engage in a job interview in English.
One of the most common issues we as immigrants embrace when we come to the United States is our endless homesickness. I have been here for about 17 years, and I still want to go back home to the warmth of the weather, the kindness of the people and the sound of the waves. Henriquez’s book also discusses the connection to home and how this family mourns the lack of familiarity one in the United States. The Toro Family on the other hand, are legally in the USA and struggle living on one salary. They become friends with the Rivera’s and somehow support each other. Both families talk about the happy life was back home and how much they miss being there
I know that many of my family members feel the same way as the Riveras. I am able to substantiate on this comment because I could still see how throughout the years we continue to make our Sundays “family day” and practice the same things we did when we were home. I must say that our lives changed drastically when we came here. In addition to the financial instability and the lack of language ability, the sense of overwhelming is extremely strong. Back home the type of pressure we have in America is practically unheard of.
Henriquez also notes the environment in which the Riveras came to live to. I believe that culturally speaking, one looks at areas where one culturally fits and is able to make a connection. This action leads to have a sense of kinship among people of the same town or origin. In my experience, Shirley Geok-Lin Lim’s poem, Learning to Love America, because my family also looked for familiarity and connections.
I also feel connected to poem in such a way that exemplifies the love for my country and how much I want to retain and hold on to my roots. When my family members migrated to the United States, they brought with them their love, food, beliefs, memories and humility. They have held on tight to what they actually call home and one day wish to return to. In our family reunions and gathering, we discuss those memories that keep our culture and love for our country alive despite the fact that we are not able to go home frequently. Lim’s poem is so transparent that I only have to close my eyes to be able to almost hear the waves of the ocean and the activities I did with my family members whom I left behind since I migrated to America. Her poem speaks loudly about cultural ties and how these are kept alive even when we have left our place of origin. It also brings awareness to many of how specific cultural behaviors define who we are as an ethnic group and why at times, we behave in a certain matter.
I must say that one of the things that has struck my family when they migrated to the United States, was the lack of sister/brotherhood and up to a point empathy in the country. Where we come from, if we see our family members three times a day, we kiss them in the cheek and ask for their blessings. We address our elders as Ma’am or Sir and we behave in a different way. We love our food and our seasoning and we try to keep alive our cultural plate, our Dominican flag: Rice, beans and chicken. We try dearly and closely to hold on to our roots because we do not want to lose who we are and what we have become.
I believe that is of extreme importance to sustain our cultural bonds alive and embrace these with our children. I believe that it is important that our children understand where their ancestors come from and what their actual cultural belief is. One of the things that brings fear to me is that my children lose their cultural identity as it is highlighted in Pat Mora’s poem, Immigrants. We must fight strong to sustain who we are despite the fact that we live in our country that has offered many opportunities to us. We are what we culturally carry and would not want my daughters to forget that. I do not want them to become strangers to our language, our food and our celebrations.
Works Cited
Lim, Shirley Geok-Lin. “Learning to Love America by Shirley Geok-Lin Lim | Poetry
Henriquez, Cristina. The Book of Unknown Americans (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.
Mariela Perez
Professor Krasner
ENG 1500
14 November 2016
The Ability to Improve my Writing Skills
The importance of writing grammatically correct is immeasurable especially at the college level where most of my work is reflected through writing. The idea behind writing essays is to assess our writing and content knowledge pertaining to the topic. In most cases, students complete several essays throughout the course of their academic career. The prevalence of the essay as an assignment makes it one of the most common academic assignments.
As research shows English has become the most wide-spread language in the world. It is estimated that the world has about three hundred seventy-five million people who speak English as a first language, another three hundred seventy-five million who speak English as a second language and seven hundred fifty million people who speak English as a foreign language. As a Dominican immigrant, I feel that speaking English as my second language has been a challenge throughout my life and an ongoing work in progress now that I am in college.
During my early year in school, English as a Second Language (ESL) was superficially reinforced. I began with a book called before book one which was a book that though me the basics, such as numbers letters, actions and routines. As I progressed throughout my school years the content of knowledge increased, however, it was not sufficient to support a conventional conversation, neither writing an essay. It was when I migrated to the USA, I realized the poor quality in my writing skills and my rough stagnant pronunciation.
Comparing my writing abilities to when I began college I feel that I have progressed greatly, although I still feel that I am far from where I want my writing abilities to be. I do feel that this class has expanded my thoughts and helped me organize my ideas. I feel that my professor helps me clarify y doubts as she asks precise questions and adds her writing suggestions. As a student, I must deal with the problem of writing grammatically appropriate and meeting the writing requests of my professors through a rubric.
A major obstacle I come across when writing in English is expressing my thoughts. I often feel that I have the concept of what I want to write but I do not have the ability to translate in writing what I want to say. I am completely aware of what sentences I would like to write, however, it seems that I am not able to convey the message as strong and as clear as I would want to.
It seems that at times I am trying to convey a message and it does not seem to be clear or at times it converts itself in a paragraph full of run-on long sentences with no essence. When I am writing in English, I usually fall in a dilemma of whether I am using the correct verb tenses and if I am stating what I have in mind. I came to the realization that many words are written the same way but do not have the same meaning. Consequently, I have made that error many times and my writing loses its validity.
I also have problems applying the past-tense correctly, which makes paper essays, research paper and any type of written work weaker. Another common blockage I come upon in my English writing occurs when I come to quote. I’m still not accustomed in the way of describing quoting content in the MLA or APA style. This is something that in my country we do not use; in other words, our quotation formats are completely different as well.
When writing, I try to be as descriptive as possible. I believe that is a major issue for me. I believe that during describing what I want to say, I tend to lose the reader. That is an issue many ESL recipients have, especially when they come from cultures that have rich poetic and descriptive languages. When I reflect in my language, it seems as that when we talk or write in Spanish, we are reciting a poetic verse. On the contrary, speaking or writing in English, is much more direct and to the point. I guess that as flamboyant as my language is, I am not able to write as I think or speak. Because of that, my writing tends to be dry and I must admit, stale to a point as I run out of word to use when I write on a specific content. The most difficult part for me is to put my rambling and disorganized thoughts on the paper. When I begin to develop my first, draft, I have no idea what I have written. I prefer to jot my ideas down in a bulleted form and derive the ideas from there.
Whenever it is time for me to sit down and write an essay, I jot down all the questions and hypothesis that come up in my mind. Hoping that it helps me clarify my writing perspectives and identify ways in which how can I make sense of my ideas in English when everything that comes through my mind is in Spanish. I am aware that for most other people, whose native language is English or who have read and spoken English since they were exposed to phonics and linguistics, it might not hold the same issue; however, a big problem I face when trying to write in English is to give meaning to what I think in English. I must translate all I think, because ideas naturally come to me in my own native language and never in English; consequently, a lot of times I know what should be written there, but I cannot come up with the proper English phrases and sentences and become stuck with my ideas. In addition to organizing my sentences, I feel that punctuation is one of my weaknesses. At times, my levels of frustration kick in when I am not able to grammatically. Another problem I have with my essays is that I have great difficulties developing the beginning of my essay. I do not find ways of capturing the audience from the beginning of y essay. I believe that in trying to engage the reader, I tend to confuse him/her instead.
I do believe that the key in writing appropriately is to enrich my vocabulary on a continuous basis. I read as much as I can and I try to learn different words as well. I continuously learn grammatical rules to apply these as I continue writing. I do know that I have a long way to go; however, I have improved tremendously throughout time.
I am grateful that our professors incorporate these writing pieces as our assignments. I believe that it is through practice that a writer improves his /her writing skills. I also appreciate the importance of rubrics because that way I can identify what the professor is looking for in the writing piece and not have to randomly write